Joe Altieri is a life-long innovator, entrepreneur, and problem solver who turned his cutting-edge invention, FlexScreen – the world’s first and only flexible window screen – into a thriving multi-million-dollar company.
Since its introduction into the marketplace, FlexScreen has gained international attention and earned multiple awards, drawing interest and eventual partnerships with powerhouse entities, including Global 500 company, Saint Gobain, and American television personality, inventor, and entrepreneur, Lori Greiner (Shark Tank investor and “Queen of QVC).
A third-generation entrepreneur, Joe learned the value of creating outstanding teams and healthy organizational cultures from his father and grandfather. He is generous with his resources and time and has been honored and recognized as one of Pittsburgh’s Volunteers of the Year.
Joe married his high school sweetheart, Alisha, and they have four children, two of whom are married and have children of their own. They all still like each other enough to get together every Sunday for dinner, and Joe considers their healthy family life to be his most important and highest achievement.
Please tell us a little bit about your company – what is FlexScreen all about?
FlexScreen is all about recognizing and solving a problem. We took century-old technology, turned it on its head, and are revolutionizing an industry in the process. Here’s our official company bio because I can’t say it better than this:
FlexScreen is the world’s first and only flexible window screen. Since its introduction into the marketplace, FlexScreen has gained international attention and earned multiple awards, drawing multimillion-dollar investments from venture capitalists and a signed equity deal with American television personality, inventor, and entrepreneur, Lori Greiner (Shark Tank investor and “Queen of QVC) and, most recently, a partnership with Global 500 powerhouse, Saint Gobain – ADFORS division. FlexScreen is disrupting the window industry and steadily expanding its reach in the B2B and B2C sectors. Currently, there are five FlexScreen manufacturing plants in the US and Canada.
Tell us a little bit about your background and how you started your company?
The adults in my life struggled with drug and alcohol abuse, and as a result, I learned independence very early. My father and grandfather owned businesses, and I spent a lot of time observing and learning from their successes and failures.
By the age of 12, I was finding ways to work and earn money. At 15, I was selling flowers curbside and doing so much business that the local flower shop owner made an impromptu visit to my stand to see what was going on. I believe that I’m a born entrepreneur. I’ve always had a strong work ethic and a real drive and determination to make things better and seek solutions.
I started my company because during my 20 years in the window industry, I dealt with countless and constant complaints from my customers, some of the country’s largest window manufacturers, about the inherent problems with traditional window screens; flimsy aluminum frames that easily dent and break, complicated hardware that makes installation and removal nearly impossible, and the list goes on and on.
Conventional screen technology is over 100 years old and hasn’t really changed at all in that time. I knew that there had to be a better way, and it was time to find it. I took to my garage to start experimenting with different frame materials and designs. My biggest inspiration and “aha moment” came one night while I was putting away my daughter’s princess pop-up tent. It occurred to me that I might be able to make a window screen with similar properties that could solve all of the problems with traditional screens.
From conception to finished product took over two years, but when I completed my first “duct tape and bubble gum” prototype, I knew I had something.
What would you say are the top 3 skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur, and why?
I’m going to go with four here…
Salesmanship. Because you will ALWAYS be selling something! Your product, your business model, yourself – something. You might not be selling directly to customers, but you have to be able to sell to investors, staff, etc. (And passion is the single most powerful sales tool, so if you don’t have it, save yourself the monumental challenges ahead. Find something else that you are passionate about and do that instead.)
Organization. Business owners wear more hats than anyone I know – including moms, and that’s saying something. Most people are not born organized, but there are many tools out there today that make it so much easier than it used to be to stay organized and juggle responsibilities with confidence.
Leadership. The quick definition of leadership is: “the art of motivating a group of people to act toward achieving a common goal.” Many entrepreneurs have leadership abilities but lack management skills, or vice—versa. Which leads me to #4…
Self-Awareness. No one does this alone. Surrounding yourself with people who are better than you at just about everything is key to your success. If you’ve got the great idea but lack any of the above, you need to be self-aware (and humble) enough to get out of the way in those specific areas. An organization will only be as successful as the teams who are building and sustaining it. Don’t let your pride get in the way of your success.
What are your plans for the future, how do you plan to grow this company?
MORE LOCATIONS: We are a just-in-time supplier to the window manufacturers; therefore, proximity is important. We will be opening additional plants as needed and have the capability to get a new plant up and running in just a few months’ time.
EXPANDING PRODUCT LINE: I’m super excited about some cutting-edge products coming out in the next 12 months. We’ve been working on the prototypes for quite some time, and I can’t talk about them yet, but I believe demand (and excitement) will be high!
PARTNERSHIP WITH SAINT GOBAIN: Our partnership with Saint Gobain is set to skyrocket direct to consumer sales. They already have commitments from some of the big-box retailers, and soon you’ll start seeing FlexScreen in the aisles of your local home improvement centers.
How do you separate yourself from your competitors?
There can be no comparison to FlexScreen because we’re the only flexible window screen in the world – and our multiple patents will keep it that way for a very long time. But here’s a breakdown of what makes our product different:
FLEXSCREEN SPRING STEEL FRAME WINDOW SCREENS:
- Nearly indestructible
- Sleek frame hides in screen track or pocket – no color matching required
- Full view – no visible frame
- Multiple durable mesh options
- Cost-effective. FlexScreen replacement rate is approximately 1 per 3,300 units.
How do you go about marketing your business, and what has been the most successful form of marketing for you?
At first, my business was all B2B with little to no emphasis on marketing. But when window manufacturers were slow to come on board, I decided to see what we could do selling directly to consumers.
I hired a small marketing agency that built us an e-commerce website, created social media accounts on all platforms, and began getting the word out in the B2C sector. We did some fun and pretty crazy marketing – unlike anything people had ever seen in the relatively old, traditional, and “stuffy” window industry.
We made funny videos showing the strength and durability of our screens – including our now famous “Hammer vs. FlexScreen” video where we pounded our spring steel frame with a metal mallet resulting in zero damage, and then lightly tapped a traditional aluminum frame with a tiny hammer to its complete destruction.
This move paid off in ways I could never have imagined. As a result of our social media marketing, Shark Tank producers found our product and reached out to us about appearing on the show. Which, we have since learned, is an extremely rare occurrence.
What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?
The Slow Yes was the biggest challenge. We had tons of excitement around the product and lots of “we want that!” affirmations from industry professionals who saw the prototype, so we moved ahead and built custom machinery and large capacity manufacturing plants based on initial reaction and positive affirmation. But we overestimated how quickly people would come on board and underestimated our industry’s tendency to move slowly and resist change.
I ended up with lots of big bills, very few orders, and a fair amount of anxiety. As it turns out, trying to change an industry using 100-year-old technology is a bit like turning the Titanic around. The “slow yes” just about did me in. But there was no turning back.
Adversity is always an opportunity to grow, innovate, and differentiate, so we kept pushing forward and decided to market our product directly to homeowners, as well. The industry might be slow to change, but I was betting that homeowners would see the value and love our screens. I wasn’t willing to sit by and wait.
What is the one thing you wish you knew before starting your business?
Just how difficult it would be. I knew it would be hard – but I had no idea how hard. Or how persistent I would need to be and how much sacrifice it would take. If I hadn’t burned the ships – quit my job and invested our life savings into my business, secured investors, etc. – there would have been 1,000 opportunities to quit. But during those periods of doubt, I literally had no choice but to continue and give it my all. And sometimes, my “all” ended up being more than I believed I had to give.
What are the top 3 online tools and resources you’re currently using to grow your company?
ZOOM. We’re mainly a B2B company. We’re counting on our customers to sell our product to homeowners, so we have to educate them continually. We do webinars, meetings, etc., via Zoom. And we were using this platform long before COVID was even a thing.
SOCIAL MEDIA. We’re all in on social media – my personal accounts, and our business accounts – and committed to being real on every platform. I have a big following on LinkedIn, which is considered to be the most professional platform. Still, I post personal and real-life stuff regularly; family photos, details about struggles that we can all relate to, unflattering photos of myself, as well as professional and business=related topics. We don’t hold much back!
Every post on every platform is made with the intent to inspire, educate, add value, or entertain. If you check out FlexScreen’s social, I think you’ll find it’s unlike any you’ve ever seen in our industry. (A few of our TikTok videos have over a million views.)
SLACK. We love this simple communication tool for staying connected with all of our plants and corporate office. We frequently add channels for customers and outside vendors as well, who all agree that this form of communication is easier and preferable to phone calls or even e-mails. Slack has been especially helpful during the pandemic for our admin staff, who has worked mostly from home.
What is your favorite quote?
“The way to get what you want is to help other people get what they want.”
-Zig Ziglar
Several years ago, my wife and I did a life evaluation and decided that we needed some guiding values to measure our choices against if we wanted to live an extraordinary life and have a thriving business. We came up with Honest, Passionate, Grateful, Healthy, and Adventurous. Everything that we do revolves around or supports one of these values, or we don’t do it.
This quote directly speaks to the value of being grateful, which would be number one if I had to rank them. When you choose to be thankful, it naturally leads to being generous, which then leads to positive change. It’s a powerful formula.
What’s your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?
Speed and patience can work together. Have your foot on the gas at all times but don’t lose hope when things don’t happen on your ideal timetable because they rarely will.
Most of all, don’t start a business because the opportunity is there – do it because you have a passion for it. Tenacity and passion are not optional, and you’ll need to have both in spades. Starting a company is not easy and certainly not fun all the time. Sometimes I compare it to voluntarily putting yourself in shackles. You wouldn’t do that for anything if you didn’t have a passion for it. And seeing it through when the going gets tough is the difference between failure and success.
How can we get in touch with you?
You can reach me by e-mail, phone, text, website FlexScreen contact form, social Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, telegram, smoke signals, etc. – your choice!
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